Caroline Burchell has a baby daughter. She tells us what life is like for her and how she copes studying medicine and bringing up a baby

I had not planned to have a baby halfway through medical school, but in my late 20s and living with a supportive partner, I am not in a bad position. In fact, I could not have timed it better if I had tried. My daughter popped out three days after the end of my second year exams, leaving us three whole months to get acquainted before I launched myself headlong into clinics and sent my baby off to nursery five days a week.

I had considered taking a year out but decided that if I didn't get on with it, having started medical school so late, I was in danger of reaching retirement age before I even qualified. I also think going back would have been a much harder adjustment for both me and the baby if I had spent a whole year at home with her.

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September came around all too quickly but going back was less daunting than I had expected. Perhaps this was because everything was so hectic; a last minute change of nursery left me panicking that I would have no childcare a week before the start of term. But I was extremely lucky to find a place at the eleventh hour in a fantastic local nursery, without which life would be impossible.

Of course, I'm not your average medical student; I can't get to the hospital before 9 am, I have to leave by 4 30 pm every day, and you certainly won't find me propping up the bar in the student union every night--or any night, for that matter. In fact, I'm sitting here writing this with an 8 month old baby on my knee, at home for the third day this week due to an unfortunate case of diarrhoea and the nursery's "three poos and you're out" rule. Still, it could be worse; last term I missed nearly three weeks because my daughter had chicken pox.

Every morning is a marathon; I get up at 6 am to get myself and my daughter ready to leave for nursery at 7 30 am. Then I cycle 10 miles to the hospital ready for a 9 am start (which I inevitably never make, although fortunately so far everyone has been understanding). Still, I have made it through my first rotation and am thoroughly enjoying being both a medical student and a mother.

Working for a few years before coming to medical school made a big difference. Although I do not always feel it, I must be so much better organised than I was doing my first degree. I rarely work in the evenings or at weekends, and when I do need to, I tend to save everything up and do it all together in one fell swoop, while someone else looks after my daughter. Working at home and looking after a baby do not go together; I made that mistake thinking I could continue my studies by going in four days a week and spending a day working from home with my baby.

I am also lucky to have a little girl who is always happy, loves going to nursery, and is a joy to be with from the minute she wakes up until the minute she goes to bed. I have friends with less easy going babies who have barely managed a day to themselves. However, I think this is as much to do with her being used to going to nursery from an early age as her easy going nature.

Balancing student life with my new found circle of mum and baby friends is hard. And mothers' coffee mornings are a far cry from student life. I sometimes feel my daughter and I are missing out when friends are taking their babies to Aquatots and the like, but you can't have everything. Many of my friends who have chosen to stay at home with their babies sometimes wish they had gone back to work. I don't suppose things would be any different if I were a working mum, except that I would have the choice of working part time--something that a medical degree most certainly is not. And my daughter's not really missing out, there are plenty of activities for her at nursery and we have to make the most of weekends and holidays together.

On reflection, I'm not sure that there would ever have been a better time to start my family. However much you want to have children, for a woman pursuing any career there will undoubtedly always be something in the way. For me, another three years of medical school and more as a junior doctor would have meant I was pushing 35 before even thinking about having a family. I am now glad I will never have to face that position. I am thoroughly enjoying clinics at last, and with a beautiful baby girl, I couldn't be happier.